Sunday, November 22, 2009

It didn’t rain on my parade

What do Toronto, Waterloo, and Wroxeter have in common? Apart from all of them being cities (and a town) in southern Ontario, each has an annual Santa Claus parade that happens in November. The Toronto edition for 2009 was last week, Waterloo had its parade yesterday, and tiny Wroxeter holds its 2009 parade next Friday. Actually, I think that every small town in southern Ontario has a parade of its own, but I mention Wroxeter’s as my wife knows about it!

As with Oktoberfest, it wasn’t until after I had children that I really enjoyed and appreciated Waterloo’s Santa Claus parade. This year’s edition was a big improvement over last year’s, in that it didn’t pour rain. Not surprisingly my sons all enjoyed the parade, and I got a huge kick out of it too. Between pipes and drums, Rudolph, a steel drum band, a roller derby team, and a Christmas tree made out of recycled cans, there was a lot to enjoy. And that’s just the non-traditional stuff! (Well, pipes and drums are probably traditional in many parades in Ontario at this point.) It’s really quite hard not to have fun.

There was also a toy drive and a food drive, which my sons each contributed to. Of course, Santa appeared at the end, on a flatbed trailer with his reindeer, and then it was time to head home. Great fun, and a real treat every year.